| Earl Williams | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Catcher /First baseman | |
| Born:(1948-07-14)July 14, 1948 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. | |
| Died: January 28, 2013(2013-01-28) (aged 64) Somerset, New Jersey, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 13, 1970, for the Atlanta Braves | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 25, 1977, for the Oakland Athletics | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .247 |
| Home runs | 138 |
| Runs batted in | 457 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Earl Craig Williams, Jr. (July 14, 1948 – January 28, 2013) was anAmericanMajor League Baseball player. Though he never playedcatcher in the minor leagues, he earned theNational League'sRookie of the Year award at that position in 1971.
Williams was born inNewark, New Jersey, and raised inEast Orange, and thenMontclair, where he was an exceptional athlete atMontclair High School.[1] He earned a scholarship toIthaca College in upstateNew York forbasketball.[2] He chosebaseball instead when he was drafted by theMilwaukee Braves in the first round of the 1965 Major League Baseball August Legion Draft.
As Williams was apitcher in high school, he made eight starts in his first professional season with theGulf Coast League Braves, compiling a 1–0 record and 3.10earned run average. When not pitching, Williams playedfirst base. The idea of Williams as a pitcher was abandoned after the 1966 season, and Williams spent most of his time in the Braves' farm system either at first or in theoutfield. In 1970, he also played somethird base. He debuted with theAtlanta Braves that September, and batted .368 in ten games split pretty evenly between first and third base.
Williams began the 1971 season as the Braves' backupcorner infielder, but on April 16 began playingthird base regularly in place of a disgruntled, soon-to-be-releasedClete Boyer.[2][3] The following day Williams hit his first two major league home runs at Philadelphia's brand newVeterans Stadium,[4] and on April 18 became the first player to hit a home run into the stadium's upper deck.[5][6][7] By the end of May,Darrell Evans took over at third, and Williams began seeing more playing time at first base. On May 23, Williams entered a 4–0 loss to theNew York Mets atShea Stadium as apinch hitter in the eighth inning, and remained in the game at catcher. It was his first professional experience behind the plate ever.[8]
He made his first start behind the plate on June 20 against theCincinnati Reds.George Foster led off the Reds' half of the second inning with asingle, then proceeded to take full advantage of Williams' inexperience at his new position. Foster stole second, advanced to third on Williams' throwingerror, then stole home to score the firstrun of the game.[9]
The following day, Williams caught both games of adoubleheader against theMontreal Expos, and caught his first attempted base stealer,Rusty Staub. He ended up appearing in 72 games at catcher, committing eight errors and catching 28% of potential base stealers. On September 10, Williams became the only Braves player besidesHank Aaron to hit a home run into the upper deck atFulton County Stadium. Aaron was also the first right-handed hitter to do it, and Williams was the second. The feat had been preceded by the left-handed hittersWillie Smith andWillie Stargell.[10]
Although he never developed into more than a poor defensive catcher, his offensive numbers – a .260batting average, 33home runs and 87runs batted in – were enough to earn him 18 of 24 first place votes to become the first Brave to win the Rookie of the Year Award sinceSam Jethroe in 1950 with what were then theBoston Braves. The other first place votes went toPhiladelphia Phillies centerfielderWillie Montañez.
Though he played some first and third also, Williams spent most of the 1972 season catching. He had a whopping 28passed balls that season,[11] mostly due to his inability to catchPhil Niekro'sknuckleball. However, he also had 28 home runs and 87 RBIs, drawing the attention of theBaltimore Orioles who acquired him along withTaylor Duncan from the Braves forDavey Johnson,Pat Dobson,Johnny Oates andRoric Harrison on the last day of theWinter Meetings on December 1, 1972.[11]
Many Oriole players, most notably ace pitcherJim Palmer, were critical of this trade, but because they had finished 9th in runs scored in 1972 (behind every team except lowly Texas, Milwaukee, California, and Cleveland), it made sense to send an aging replaceable second-baseman (Bobby Grich moving in for Dave Johnson), a back-end-of-rotation starter (Pat Dobson), and 2 throw-ins to insure a prime bat at a position in which their division rivals were killing them (Freehan, Munson, Fisk). Ironically, Palmer was 13–5 in games in which he pitched to Williams, and went on to win his firstCy Young Award in 1973. Williams batted .237 with 22 home runs (almost double that of the next Oriole, with 12) and a team-leading 83 RBIs his first season in theAmerican League. Williams reached the post season for the only times in his career with the Orioles in 1973 and 1974, losing to theOakland Athletics in theAmerican League Championship Series both years. Also, ironically, the only 2 years that Williams was on the team were the only 2 years that the Orioles made the post-season in the 7-year period between 1972-78. His only post-season home run was an important one (staking the Orioles to a 1-0 lead in a game the Orioles lost late, 2-1), offKen Holtzman in the game 31973 American League Championship Series.[12]
After the 1974 season, he was traded back to theAtlanta Braves for pitcherJimmy Freeman. He appeared in just eleven games at catcher in 1975, receiving most of his playing time at first base. He batted .240 with a career low eleven home runs in his new role. He began seeing more time behind the plate again in 1976, however, in June his contract was sold to theMontreal Expos, with whom he played mostly first base. For the season, his numbers bounced back somewhat, as he hit seventeen home runs and drove in 55 runs.
The Expos released Williams duringSpring training 1977, and he signed with the Oakland A's a few days later. He split his time with the A's fairly evenly between catching, first base anddesignated hitter. He batted .241 with thirteen home runs and 38 RBIs his only season in Oakland. He was placed on waivers by the A's at the end of Spring training 1978. Failing to find a taker, he was released on May 17.
| Seasons | Games | PA | AB | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | Avg. | Slg. | OBP | CS% | Fld% |
| 8 | 889 | 3431 | 3058 | 361 | 756 | 115 | 6 | 138 | 457 | 2 | 298 | 574 | .247 | .424 | .318 | 32% | .985 |
Williams had a career .984fielding percentage at catcher, and a .991 fielding percentage at first base. His worst position was third base, where he had a .892 fielding percentage.
Williams died ofacute myeloid leukemia at his home in theSomerset section ofFranklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey on January 28, 2013, at the age of 64. His wife Linda and her daughter Raquel were with him.[1][13]
Rookie Earl Williams drove in the other two Atlanta runs and became the first player ever to put a home run into the upper deck of the new stadium in the fourth inning. Williams' long blast was fair by only a few feet, but landed in the first row of the orange seats (middle section) of the upper deck. It was his third home run in two days.
Sept 10: Rookie catcher Earl Williams homers into the upper deck, the fourth (and last) player to do so. (The others: Cubs' Willie Smith and Giants' Willie McCovey in 1969; Aaron in 1970.)
· Baseball Almanac
